Sunday, May 4, 2014

Transition to Key West, Florida

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Having a pick up truck had its advantages, Chief Dan and I could load some stuff on my truck and haul it down to Key West and spend a weekend with our wives. What a joy that was.

One blessing for Sherry was she and Joan (Dan’s Wife) got along well. They would go to the base pool and Joan taught Sherry to Swim.  Of course Sherry could float and snorkel, but she never learned to swim. Sherry also got a DELICIOUS lasagna recipe from Joan.

Those trips to Key West were tough because it was when the ‘fake’ gas shortage was happening. We sat in line many times to get gas and could not get a full tank.  Remember? Each state and sometimes the counties decided how you got gas.  Some used the last digit of your tag number, odd one day  and even the next. Some areas just limited your purchase to a $ limit. At times we saved gas during the week and carried some extra cans of gas.

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At Key West this was something I had never seen before and never seen again. That it a REAL WATER SPOUT. That you see in a distance is a solid column of water from the Gulf to the sky.

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Sherry soon got a job on the Naval Air Station that was located on Boca Chica Key. Nick names seemed natural for sailors this one was , “Broken Chicken.”

Finally the move was complete and we were together in Key West.  This too was a great duty station At the time we were there it was more laid back and ‘small town’ except on the big holiday times ‘Christmas and New Years’, THEN IT WAS CROWDED.

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(The boys grilling on the back patio of our KW home)

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Now that the cruise ships land there the atmosphere has changed. The one thing that never changes and anyone who has been there will tell you, there is nothing like the sunsets viewed every day, from Mallory Square. Each day when the sun sets, God and nature receives an offering of applause for a wonderful show after the sun has melted into the Gulf of Mexico.

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Mark and our dog Mackie.

Every one who has not been to Key West must take a ride on the ‘Conch Tour Train’. You get to climb the only mountain on the Key, it is about 11 feet above sea level Surprised smile.

Thanks for stopping by the log.

Nite Shipslog

PS:

When hearing I had bought a boat the ‘Old  Man’ called me in and asked if I knew what a boat really was, I said, “From the sound of the ?, probably not.”

“A boat is a hole in the water, thru which you throw money!”

That is pretty much right, but it was still a lot of fun.

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We bought this vehicle in Key West. The VW camper.(Our first motor home!Winking smile)

11 comments:

Paula said...

Good Sunday morning to you and Sherry. Another interesting post about places you have lived. I agree having a pick-up is handy. Recently I was thinking of buying a new one and Lynda my oldest said "Mom do you just need a truck?" Yes I do, when we buy something at the thrift store John's work truck is too dirty to haul it in.

Mevely317 said...

FUN share, Jack!
I was in Key West once upon a time (ca. 89?), but sure missed the boat (no pun intended) re. Mallory Square. Those sunset pictures are stunning!!! I only recall being disappointed the water was so shallow. That, and the high prices.
Dan and Joan sound like the sort of friends everyone would love to have in their lives.

PS - Yes, I sure remember those analog remote controls! Still, I thought that was the greatest invention... positively high-tech! :)

Sheila Y said...

Beautiful sunsets. I remember seeing a water spout once but don't remember exactly where. Enjoy your Sunday! Sheila

TARYTERRE said...

What a beautiful place to settle down for a while. LOVE the VW camper.

betty said...

Those sunsets were beautiful! I do remember the time about having to wait in line for gas, odd/even rationing, etc. What a mess it was! Fun to see the boys growing up on your blog :)

betty

I'm mostly known as 'MA' said...

What a beautiful place to be stationed! We here often have water spouts out on Lake Erie. They look a bit dangerous but to my knowledge don't do any harm.

shirl72 said...

Key West look like a fun place to
live. My Friend Jane's Brother and
his wife lived there and he was on
the police force there. The sunset
is breath taking..just beautiful.
The water spout awesome never seen
one. Glad you are now closer to home.

Rose said...

I loved my first trip to Key
West. My son took me there for a Mother's Day Weekend many years ago!

The sunset was awesome!

Thank you for recently stopping by my blog and leaving me some very kind words and prayers which I appeciate greatly.

Hugs to my favorite couple!

Rose

Rose said...

I received a "Mailer Daemon Notification" that you did not receive my last comment yet I can see it above.

I thought I resolved all these issues working on it for several days after the Internet Explorer issues and thean AOL had issues.

Rose said...

I called AOL and they told me that in Google, we have to list our google email address and not our AOL email address. This is a new thing the started called DMARC to protect spoofing and spams and hackers.

I changed all mine but have you changed yours? I see others left messages just wondering if you are able to see them all on your end.

The inconvenience is that we cannot see the modification in our AOL inbox and have to go into our Gmail inbox to view........Ugh.

Annesphamily said...

Nice post. I saw these two previous comments and noticed a lot of my comments come back to me and say they were spammed! Yet people can still leave comments. I hate these changes everywhere on the internet. They can not leave well enough alone! Ah....
But always a pleasure ot stop by. Thanks for these stories and wonderful photos to share with you. enjoy the week!